27 Saturday Jun 2020
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I remember always feeling proud to see the pride flag flying atop our city hall building in Plaza Nueva during Pride Month (I know I have a pic of my own somewhere but this one came from wikipedia). It felt good to know I lived in a city in favour of inclusion, diversity and freedom. But today I saw it wasn’t there and then I remembered that the new asshole Andalusian powers that be have forbidden government buildings from flying anything but official flags.
But don’t worry, I fixed it. 😉
26 Friday Jun 2020
Last week I went to the Alcázar with my friend Corinna, the first time either of us had been there for ages. Thing is, it’s free for Sevilla residents but it’s always so bloody crowded that we usually just can’t be bothered. But as they had just reopened the palace and gardens, and it was before foreign tourists were allowed to arrive, we took advantage. And it was lovely. There were a few people, mostly Spanish, but no tour groups, and we often found ourselves with nobody around us in the gardens. Heaven.
Here are some pics…
22 Monday Jun 2020
Posted in coronavirus, health & happiness, sevilla
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Yesterday marked the official final day of lockdown in Spain. I started counting Day 1 as March 14th, so that makes it 100 days, but I see some other “official” numbers vary by a day or two. Doesn’t matter. For me it’s been 100 days of lockdown, which have been mostly spent alone, until a few days ago when I dared to meet a friend for lunch. Other than that, there’s been no human contact other than at the supermarket. My last hug was on March 11th. The only times anyone has even touched me since then was when I went to have blood taken, and the other day when the oncologist poked and prodded my belly. This has been hard for a girl who loves her hugs!
What else has been hard in terms of lockdown itself? To be honest? Not that much really. Sure I’ve been a bit bored at times (not often), worried, lonely, anxious, but I’ve also been surprisingly patient and even content, making sure my days include things I enjoy (cooking, chatting online with friends, cuddling cats, writing this silly blog) and I’ve even set up a workout routine for those days I don’t get out for a walk. But as I’ve said here before, I’ve already had training for this when I spent a year and a half basically “locked down” by cancer, chemo and several major abdominal ops. And then I read this very good article by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett which reminded me that I’d also had even more previous training with my agoraphobia, which used to made it impossible to leave my home.
19 Friday Jun 2020
Posted in cancer, coronavirus, friends, hope, hospitals, sevilla, spain, tapas, tapas bars, welcome
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Just look how fucking gorgeous this is! That is the Plaza de España WITHOUT ANY TOURISTS. My goodness, what a beautiful sight. I snapped this pic while walking home from the hospital today. Finally got my oncology checkup to review all the tests I’ve had done (Feb-March). This got postponed, like most things, by the VIRUS. But today was the day. Luckily I had already been given copies of the test results from my GP so there were no big surprises.
Basically, after another colonoscopy, an upper abdomenal barium x-ray, another CT scan of my thorax and abdomen, and more blood tests, they still don’t know what THE THING is next to my stomach. But it appears to be behaving and they think they can rule out cancer. But short of cutting me open again they can’t know for sure. And they really don’t want to cut me open again. So there will be another CT scan and blood test in September to see if there have been any changes.
18 Thursday Jun 2020
Posted in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars, the new now
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I didn’t even realise today was Día Mundial de la Tapa (World Tapas Day)! What a perfect moment to have my first tapa out in 97 days. And well it had to be THOSE gorgeous honey pork ribs at Eslava.
The day started off with a visit to the Alcázar Palace and Gardens, which just opened up to the public on Monday. I thought it would be nice to visit again before the marauding hordes start arriving here on Sunday. So I arranged to meet my friend Corinna at 11.30 (carefully timed so that after our palace visit it would be BEER O’CLOCK).
Corinna
Along the way we stopped in at a couple of bars just so I could say hello to people there. It was so lovely seeing dear friends again. Corinna and I lucked out at Eslava and got a nice socially distanced space at the bar and had an amazing lunch. And I got to see Sixto! He runs Eslava with his wife and I’ve known him for many years. We agreed that the “reopening” in our new now is more than just about business, or even the food. It’s about the people, the ambiance, the… everything! Damn it felt good to be back.
Sixto
casa azahar 